Artificial turf or artificial grass is surface that is made up of fibers which is used to replace grass. The structure of the artificial turf is designed such that the artificial turf has an appearance which resembles grass. Typically artificial turf is used as a surface for sports such as soccer, American football, rugby, tennis, golf, for playing fields, or exercise fields. Furthermore artificial turf is frequently used for landscaping applications.
An advantage of using artificial turf is that it eliminates the need to care for a grass playing or landscaping surface, like regular mowing, scarifying, fertilizing and watering. Watering can be e.g. difficult due to regional restrictions for water usage. In other climatic zones the re-growing of grass and re-formation of a closed grass cover is slow compared to the damaging of the natural grass surface by playing and/or exercising on the field. Artificial turf fields though they do not require a similar attention and effort to be maintained, may require some maintenance such as having to be cleaned from dirt and debris and having to be brushed regularly. This may be done to help fibers stand-up after being stepped down during the play or exercise. Throughout the typical usage time of 5-15 years it may be beneficial if an artificial turf sports field can withstand high mechanical wear, can resist UV, can withstand thermal cycling or thermal ageing, can resist inter-actions with chemicals and various environmental conditions. It is therefore beneficial if the artificial turf has a long usable life, is durable, and keeps its playing and surface characteristics as well as appearance throughout its usage time.
United States patent application publication US 20080050519 A1 discloses a latex formulation. The latex formulation comprises an aqueous emulsion of a natural or synthetic film-forming polymer, hydrogen peroxide, and an activating agent for hydrogen peroxide decomposition. A method of making a latex foam, a method of making a latex-coated textile material, a latex foam and latex foam coated articles are also disclosed.
European patent publication EP 2940212 A1 discloses a method of manufacturing artificial turf. The method comprising the steps of: creating a polymer mixture comprising at least one polymer and a nucleating agent for crystallizing the at least one polymer; extruding the polymer mixture into a monofilament; quenching the monofilament; reheating the monofilament; stretching the reheated monofilament to form the monofilament into an artificial turf fiber, wherein during the stretching the nucleating agent boosts the creation of crystalline portions of the at least one polymer within the monofilament; and incorporating the artificial turf fiber into an artificial turf backing, thereby mechanically fixing the monofilaments of the arranged artificial turf fibers in the artificial turf backing.
International patent publication WO 2009/056284 A1 discloses a method for the manufacture of artificial grass which consists of spraying onto the rear of the primary turf carpet a two- or three-component polyurethane product, that crosslinks rapidly, even at low temperatures, to give a compact, elastic, uniform and bubble-free film of a coating-adhesive, which shows an improved chemical and water resistance and bonds firmly the tufts to the primary web.
United States patent publication U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,958 A discloses substrates having successive layers of a cellular polyurethane and a noncellular polyurethane are prepared using certain siloxane-polyether block copolymers in the noncellular polyurethane formulation. The use of the block copolymer reduces or eliminates the formation of a bubble line at the interface of the polyurethane layers, thereby improving physical and cosmetic properties of the carpet.